Successful Treatments and Management of A Case of Canine Melioidosis

Abstract

This communication presents a successful story of an attempt to treat and manage a case of canine melioidosis, a severe tropical disease caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei. A 10-year-old dog was trapped with barbed wires, causing an infected wound around its neck and back, which was later diagnosed as severe melioidosis. The dog was treated based on a modified human protocol. Intravenous meropenem injections (20 mg/kg twice daily) were given for 14 days to prevent death from sepsis prior to treatment with oral sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (25 mg/kg twice daily) for 20 weeks to eliminate the bacteria. Canine melioidosis is an unusual infection in dogs, even in Thailand where melioidosis is highly endemic. This successful case management was solely based on proper diagnosis and appropriate treatments.

Keywords: Burkholderia pseudomallei; canine melioidosis; meropenem; sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim.

Figure 1

Canine melioidosis: A, showing the massive wounds around the dog’s neck and back observed on the 1^st day at Prince of Songkla University (PSU) Animal Hospital; B, Burkholderia pseudomallei colonies grown on Ashdown’s selective medium; C, the presence of a 2-cm abscess-like mass at the splenic tail confirmed by ultrasonography; and D, the recovery of the splenic tail after 10 weeks of the oral treatment. The arrows point to the areas of abscesses observed in C, which later disappeared after the oral treatment.